Bee a Friend: Native Plants to Help Ohio’s Pollinators

Ohio’s pollinators need your help! Forty-percent of insect pollinators are threatened with extinction. Yet, 35% of the world’s food crops and 75% of the world’s flowering plants need pollinators for survival and reproduction, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

So, we’re doing a special “Bee a Friend” series so you can learn how to help pollinators and bring pollinators to your Ohio garden. In our last post, “What to Plant to Help Ohio’s Pollinators,” we explained who Ohio’s pollinators are and we gave you some fun flowers to plant to support pollinators. In this post, we’ll discuss what native Ohio plants you can add to your garden to help pollinators.

What is considered a “native” plant?

A plant is considered “native” if it existed in an area before the European settlers arrived there, which is around the 17th century for most Ohio flora. While many species have become naturalized to an area and are part of the landscape now, if they weren’t there before the settlers, then they can’t be considered as “native.”

Having native plants in your Ohio garden is beneficial because they can help preserve the biodiversity of Ohio. Also, because the species are already acclimated to the environment, native plants may need fewer chemical fertilizers and less effort to grow and transform into a beautiful garden.

Native Flowers for Ohio’s Pollinators

Here are five of our top native plants for Ohio pollinators.

Marsh Marigold

Marigolds have beautiful, eye-catching flowers and are easy-to-care-for, perennial plants. They attract butterflies, partly because of marigolds’ bright, yellow flowers. Also, marsh marigolds have ultraviolet pigments in the flowers’ sepals (the tiny, thin leaves directly under the flower bud) that attract Ohio’s pollinators, particularly native bees and hoverflies.

Marsh marigolds primarily bloom in the spring and summer, and they make for a showy garden display in outdoor spaces.

These flowers can thrive in areas with full shade, partial shade, or full sun, so feel free to plant them anywhere in your central Ohio garden. Just make sure to plant them in slow-draining areas as they are native to marshlands and wet meadows. You can help marsh marigolds grow by giving them moist, rich, and boggy soil. With this type of soil, these flowers won’t need to be fertilized.

Echinacea (Coneflower)

Echinacea (coneflower) is an iconic American wildflower. You can find wild echinacea in grasslands and prairies. Purple echinacea grows 2 to 5 feet tall and is one of our favorite native Ohio flowers. Echinacea is also deer- and rabbit-resistant and makes for beautiful cut flowers.

Echinacea have perennial flowers that bloom during the summer and needs full sun. Luckily, this hardy flower can be planted in nutrient-poor soil and still thrive as long as it has well-draining soil.

Phlox

Phlox is an easy-to-care-for flower that is often found in Ohio’s forests and woodland areas. These perennials have cute, clumping flowers, meaning that they grow in bunches, and they tend to be spreading flowers that have a pleasant fragrance. The plant itself can grow up to 5 feet tall.

Phlox bloom during the spring and into the late summer. They need partial to full sun and are drought-tolerant flowers. While they don’t need fertilizing apart from some compost in the fall, phlox should be planted in rich, well-draining soil.

Lobelia

Lobelia plants have small and numerous flowers that bloom throughout the summer and into the fall. Some lobelias act as trailing plants while others can be beautiful clumping flowers.

Lobelias come in red, pink, purple, blue, and white. The red Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal Flower) is native to Ohio. These flowers can grow 2 to 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide.

Hummingbirds and butterflies are attracted to lobelias, but deer and rabbits don’t like these flowers.

Lobelias love water, so consider planting them near any water features in your central Ohio garden. They also need full sun or partial sun, but they generally don’t need any fertilizing apart from a yearly dose of compost.

White Trillium

White trillium is Ohio’s state wildflower, and it is also known as “wake robin” or “snow trillium.” This perennial is a large flower with three white petals. White trilliums can grow up to 2 feet tall, but it can take the plants two to five years to reach this height.

These Ohio flowers bloom from late spring to early summer and are odorless. They also make for great border plants.

Interestingly, white trilliums don’t do well when transplanted from the wild into a domestic garden space, so it’s best to purchase them from a local Ohio garden center. Actually, it’s illegal to pull or pick wildflowers from the wild in Ohio, so it’s best to leave what’s wild alone.

White trilliums thrive in full or partial shade and need consistently moist soil. Although they don’t need fertilizer, it’s best to give these flowers a bit of a nutrient boost with some compost when you first plant them.

Need Help, Gardening Supplies, or Plants?

If you’re looking for an Ohio garden center that has healthy plants and pollinator-friendly flowers, then stop by Timbuk Farm’s Garden Center to check out our Pollinator Café or send us a message. We’re a family-owned business and we grow everything locally right here in Ohio. We know Ohio gardening, and our garden experts are happy to answer any questions about how to make the most out of your central Ohio garden.